Natural N8

George Zhou

Year 12 Camberwell Grammar School

Lunar Eclipse

A total lunar eclipse took place on 28 August 07, and was visible from Melbourne, Australia. The photos show a time-lapsed sequence of the eclipse through its totality. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is placed directly between the Sun and the Moon, casting a shadow that blocks the full moon. An eclipse consists of two elements, totality and partial eclipse – during partial eclipse only part of the umbra contacts the lunar surface, and thus only half the moon is lit; during totality the entire moon is covered by the umbra of Earth’s shadow. The orange-red appearance of which is caused by refraction of light from the atmosphere of the Earth. The dust from the atmosphere refracts white light into different colours – the spectrum; as red light bends the most, it is refracted onto the surface of the moon during totality, the dustier the atmosphere, the redder the moon. The images were taken with a Canon 400D SLR at f/200mm, the shots differ in exposure length as, during totality, the moon is much darker and thus needs a longer exposure to capture the vibrancy of the colour. The photos were then collaged onto one image portraying the different stages of totality, from which one can observe the umbra moving across the lunar surface, where the last few shots show the end of totality with a part of the moon lit in sunlight.